4 // COASTWEEKEND.COM
THE TIDES OF
TRADITION
53 years of Cannon Beach Sandcastle Contest knowledge
helps organizer Debbie Nelson prep for 2017 event
By BRENNA VISSER
FOR COAST WEEKEND
he Cannon Beach Sandcastle
Contest has seen many changes in its
53 years.
Some of these changes are seen in
the number of people, the compet-
itors, and, of course, the sandcastles themselves.
But this tradition has one element that no tide
can wash away: Debbie Nelson, the chairwoman
of the Sandcastle planning committee.
Nelson has been the chairwoman for the past
seven years, as well as a participant, judge or
event organizer every year since the contest
began in 1964.
“I have decades’ worth of Sandcastle shirts at
SUB MIT TED PHOTOS
my house,” Nelson said, laughing.
About 15,000 master artists, amateurs and
spectators are expected to come to this year’s
Sandcastle celebrations Friday through Sunday,
June 16 through 18. Regular festivities, like the
sandcastle building contest, parade and 5K fun
run and walk, are all returning.
This time it will all happen in a special con-
text: the 50th anniversary of the Oregon Beach
Bill. There will be information at the event this
year for visitors interested in learning more
about the bill that passed in 1967 and declared
the Oregon Coast open to the public.
“It’s because of this bill that we can con-
tinue to do this,” Nelson said.
Shortly after the bill’s passage,
Nelson remembers going to the
first Sandcastle Contest when she
was 4 — the year after a tsunami
hit the North Coast.
She remembers first festiv-
ities being small and mostly
local.
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